Opposites: word pairs

Let us begin

The big idea

Hot and cold. Big and small. Up and down. These word pairs are called opposites. When you know one word, you can find its partner!

An opposite word means the reverse of another word. The opposite of hot is cold. The opposite of day is night.

Opposites come in pairs. We can say them together: in and out, open and close, happy and sad.

Not every word has an opposite. The word table does not have one. Opposites are most common for describing words and doing words.

Using opposites makes our sentences clear. For example: The elephant is big, but the ant is small.

Worked examples

See how it works

1. Describing words

   Tall and short, fast and slow, old and new, clean and dirty. We can say: The giraffe is tall, but the rabbit is short.

2. Doing words

   Open and close, push and pull, laugh and cry, sit and stand. We can say: Please open the door. Please close the door.

3. Places

   Up and down, in and out, front and back, near and far. We can say: The bird is up in the tree. The cat is down on the ground.

Try it at home

Opposite pairs game